As all major football leagues are nearing their end of this season along with the country-wide tournaments; one of the biggest battles football fanatics face off-pitch is not which team does one support, but which football video-game is the best – the EA Sports developed FIFA series or Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer (PES).
Already, work is in progress for this year’s instalments for both the games, as the annual ritual happens near August or September during the start of the new football season.
Let’s start jotting down points and evaluate how both games fare:-
FIFA as a franchise was threathened by PES in the PS2 days when the former was in full glory ripping the EA franchise bit by bit, but eventually the game grew a tad bit older every year with FIFA taking larger strides with each new game it released.
Once celebrated among the fans and critics alike, PES is still known for the gameplay and the mechanics it brings to the game. With the new engine coming in to play for the Konami franchise, the gameplay feels more solid and plays like an actual game instead of some computer game. The perfect push for the pass and the strength you feel when you shoot the ball in the lower corner is what makes the PES franchise perfect for the one’s looking for the on-pitch realism in gameplay.
FIFA on the other hand has had muscle power to flaunt the most realistic stadiums and authentic tournaments and original team names as opposed to PES which has official UEFA competitions and Spanish, Italian leagues to its credit. Does it matter when it comes to playing merely a football game, Hell Yeah! You don’t want to play against Merseyside Red and win the game playing Manchester Red or Manchester Blue.
Speaking of teams, UEFA is officially tied to PES but FIFA has far more to offer when it comes to playing modes. The Ultimate team which FIFA started is now one of the fan favourite modes and has been copied by PES but very shabbily. Online play and other modes on offer on PES are less engaging as opposed to Career and Pro modes by FIFA which have fans gorging on the same game for a number of seasons without getting tired of it. The PES AI too is clunky and looks outdated, whereas the EA outfit has been innovative in providing the AI that the gamer wants to see on the screen first when the game starts.
When it comes to commentary one of the worst you’ll hear is on PES’ games, where one hears 4-5 sentences repeated over and over again – pleading one to keep the audio on mute while playing. FIFA does a far better job when it comes to the commentary with Andy Townsend, Alan Smith and Clive Tyldesley doing a neat job with the commentary but it too fades away once you’ve put in the hours of playing the game.
What PES has managed to bring to the table is the way it has modeled its players which look more lifelike because they are manually modeled as against FIFA’s scanned faces which although brings realism, there are instances when the look of the player in question turns out to be funny to even recognise, let alone take a guess.
What would be great to see is a blend of FIFA’s awesome line-up of players along with the strong PES game mechanics and engine, but that’s a farfetched thought.
So we leave it upto you – The Fanatics – to choose your poison! Share your thoughts below!